


The most magical place on Earth (is by your side)

by GoggleLad



Category: Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magika | Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Semi-established relationship, a Disneyland by any other name, lots of fluff, schemers being cute, would still be Disneyland
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-19
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:08:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24800578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoggleLad/pseuds/GoggleLad
Summary: Hazuki has a plan to take Ayame to an amusement park for her birthday, and also spend time with Nanaka.  Nanaka has a plan to fulfill Hazuki's plan, and to really wow her while doing it.  Hijnks ensue.  A look into the everyday lives of two manipulators trying to be sweet with each other.In which twelve magical girls go to Tokyo and have a good time.
Relationships: Tokiwa Nanaka/Yusa Hazuki
Comments: 11
Kudos: 38





	The most magical place on Earth (is by your side)

It had started with something small. Innocuous.

“Konoha! Konoha, look, look at this!” Ayame eagerly held up her phone, and Konoha had to put her hands on Ayame’s shoulders to get her to stop bouncing long enough to see what she was actually trying to show.

“This is… a video about that city-building game that you’re playing with Felicia, isn’t it?”

“No, no, not that!” Ayame pulled the phone back, looking at it with a frown. “The commercial! Grr, it stopped playing! It was, it was, a commercial for that place! Mouseland!”

“Oh, I’ve seen that one,” Hazuki said, smoothly inserting herself into the conversation before anyone could get too frustrated. “Here, I’ll bring it up.” She found the video with a quick search and played it for Ayame and Konoha.

“That’s it, that’s it! Look, they said it’s the most magical place on Earth! Konoha, can we go, can we?”

“Mouseland Tokyo is very expensive…” Konoha frowned. “I’m sorry, Ayame dear, it just isn’t in our budget right now. Maybe next year, if we save up for it.”

* * *

And that should’ve been the end of it. Ayame was disappointed, but she was a good girl and didn’t throw a fuss. But that small event had gotten Hazuki thinking, and she brought it up with Nanaka during their next cross-team planning session. A planning session which was disguised as a bubble tea date (or, quite possibly, a bubble tea date that was disguised as a planning session).

“And see, Ayame’s birthday is coming up, so I was looking at other amusement parks that we could go to that won’t cost as much. I still need to get Konoha to take a look at the numbers, but I think it’s doable, and I’m sure Ayame will still have a good time.”

“Oh!” Nanaka’s exclamation wasn’t from anything that Hazuki had said, but rather because she’d just sucked up one of the tapioca balls through her straw and gotten surprised by it. Hazuki had to take a long sip from her own bubble tea to stop from grinning like a kid in a candy store. Nanaka was… not naive, by any stretch of the imagination, but her privileged upbringing had left her charmingly sheltered in certain areas, and Hazuki couldn’t get enough of her cute surprised expressions whenever she encountered something unfamiliar. Like drinking bubble tea.

Which was actually the motivation for Hazuki’s current move. “But anyway, back on topic. As far as building rapport between our teams goes, I was thinking that we should do some social bonding exercises. You know, get together outside of witch hunting and just have some normal fun. What do you think?”

“Yes, that sounds like a good idea.” Nanaka appeared slightly distracted by her bubble tea, and shook with silent laughter when she took another sip and got another tapioca ball, but Hazuki knew she was picking up all the details. Clever girl that she was, she would almost certainly make the connection between the seeds that Hazuki had sown. Why not do an inter-team bonding trip to an amusement park? She’d probably even puzzle out that Hazuki had planted the idea intentionally, while leaving Nanaka to put the pieces together and formally propose the outing.

But she probably wouldn’t guess that Hazuki’s primary motivation was to take Nanaka to an amusement park and show her all kinds of things that she’d never experienced before.

* * *

Hazuki had thought that she was in control of events, but she had a mistake. The worst part was that it was a mistake that she’d told herself she wouldn’t make anymore, having learned from past experiences, and yet here she’d made the same mistake again. She had underestimated Nanaka.

Oh, how she’d underestimated Nanaka.

“What is this?” Hazuki was holding a chocolate ice cream cone in one hand and the envelope that Nanaka had just passed her in the other. It had been a week since Hazuki had brought up amusement parks with her, and Nanaka had called her out for another meeting, which may or may not have also been an ice cream date.

“A birthday present for Ayame. Go ahead, you can open it.” Nanaka had her eyes on her own strawberry ice cream cone, looking at it with undisguised interest.

Hazuki raised an eyebrow. “Oh? That’s really thoughtful of you. Ah, but it’s kinda hard to open this with only one hand… Here, hold this for me for a second?” Hazuki took a quick bite out of her ice cream before passing it to Nanaka so she could deal with the envelope properly. “Now, let’s see here…”

She looked over the contents of the envelope. And then she kept looking as her eyes grew wider. She checked over it again, making sure that she wasn’t mistaking anything. It couldn’t be a prank, Nanaka wasn’t the type to pull a prank like this, but really, if this was real…

“Um. Three all-expenses-paid tickets for a two-day trip to Mouseland Tokyo?” Hazuki managed to keep her voice from trembling, but there was definitely a note of accusation that she was unable to keep out of her tone.

“Yes,” Nanaka replied without looking at her, instead keeping her eyes on the two ice cream cones. She ventured a lick of her strawberry treat and swallowed before saying more. “Two of them are for you and Konoha, if you were wondering.”

“This must have been very expensive…” Hazuki said uneasily.

“Not at all,” Nanaka told her, meeting her eyes now with an enigmatic smile. “There is, however, one condition for accepting these tickets.”

“Oh? And what’s that?” Hazuki wasn’t sure whether to be anxious or excited. Nanaka probably wouldn’t ask for anything outrageous. She certainly wouldn’t ask for anything sexy. Right?

“Ayame has to also take along her two best friends.”

Hazuki blinked, surprised (and _not_ disappointed, she insisted to herself). “Kako and Felicia? But, there’s not enough tickets here…?”

“That won’t be a problem. Felicia–ah,” Nanaka stopped for a moment to lick at her ice cream which was starting to drip towards her fingers. “Felicia’s family, as it so happens, also has tickets to Mouseland.”

“I see.” Felicia was an orphan, so her ‘family’ had to be that team of magical girls that lived at Mikazuki Villa. There were five of them, last time that Hazuki had checked, which meant another five tickets. Hazuki could smell a plot at work here, and she gave Nanaka an I’m-onto-you smile. “What a coincidence.”

“In truth,” Nanaka admitted with her own smile, “they won a set of eight tickets in a lottery, and those three that you hold are their generous donation. Hence the condition.”

And they had happened to win this lottery scant days after Hazuki had told Nanaka about Ayame’s birthday wish? And for some reason they’d granted Nanaka the excess tickets? “My, how convenient.”

“It is quite convenient.” Nanaka either didn’t notice the sarcasm or chose to ignore it. “This way Felicia’s family will be responsible for her on this trip.” There was an undercurrent of… _something_ there. Hazuki wasn’t quite sure what it was. She knew that there was some history between Nanaka and Felicia, but this was one subject where Hazuki hadn’t managed to work her way past Nanaka’s poker face.

But that was fine, and Hazuki was deft at changing the subject. “That still leaves Kako. Don’t tell me, her family _also_ won a set of tickets?”

“That would be a bit too much, don’t you think?” Nanaka replied with amusement. “No, she–Oh, wait.” Nanaka took another quick pair of licks from her ice cream, and carefully rearranged her fingers on Hazuki’s cone to avoid the chocolate drips. “Here, do yours.” She held the chocolate ice cream toward Hazuki’s face, and Hazuki smiled as she obligingly leaned forward to lick the stream of melting chocolate. “That’s better. No, my team has coincidentally arranged to be there for a team bonding exercise on those dates. We’ll be handling our own expenses, you don’t need to concern yourself with it.”

Translation: Nanaka had somehow arranged for Ayame’s and Felicia’s entire teams to go to Mouseland in such a way that no one could feel guilty about the expenses for it, and then arranged for her own team to be there using her own personal funds (or possibly the resources of the Blue Seas family, Hazuki was never completely sure how much weight Nanaka could leverage there). Which fulfilled Ayame’s desire to go to Mouseland _and_ Hazuki’s stated goal of team-bonding at a theme park (as well as Hazuki’s unstated goal). Hazuki swore to herself, not for the first time, that she would stop underestimating Nanaka Tokiwa.

“Alright, alright, I see you’ve got an answer for everything,” Hazuki said with a laugh. “You’ve gotta tell me, how did you pull this all off?”

“Well,” Nanaka started, before pausing for another lick of dripping ice cream. “Well, I’m sure,” _drip, lick,_ “that an intelligent young,” _lick,_ “lady like yourself can,” _lick,_ “imagine for yourself what,” _drip drip lick,_ “I’m sorry, holding two of these at once is too much on a day this warm, can you take yours back?”

Hazuki was smiling brightly as she rescued Nanaka from the melting chocolate ice cream. “You have no intention of actually telling me, do you?”

Nanaka’s return smile was downright devilish. “The enigma is more interesting, is it not?”

* * *

Nanaka lounged on her velvet throne in queenly vestments while Akira, dressed in a very revealing silk outfit, fed her fine grapes. “You can give your report now,” she drawled imperiously.

Meiyui, who was decked out in an eye-catching outfit of all leather, bowed deeply. “Yes, my queen. This week we foiled two plots to destroy the world, shut down an initiative by the American intelligence service to infiltrate Kamihama, and expanded our territory into eastern Europe. We should have control over France’s government before the end of the year, so that you’ll have exclusive access to the Eiffel Tower for your New Year’s date night.”

“Excellent work. And Kako, what about my latest initiative?”

Kako was, for some reason, wearing a classy suit and a fedora. “Everything is proceeding according to schedule. You are now the majority shareholder for Mouseland Tokyo, and we’ve arranged for a set of tickets to be sent to Mikazuki Villa as a ‘lottery reward’. Oh, and we’ve arranged for construction to begin on a Kamihama branch of Mouseland, which will be officially titled Tokiwaland. Is there anything else you need, milady?”

Nanaka smiled. “That will be all for now, my minions. Excellent work all around. Oh ho ho ho ho!”

…

…That _probably_ wasn’t what had actually happened, but until she got a more definitive explanation, Hazuki chose to believe that it had gone something like that.

* * *

“This, this is, this is the best! It’s the best, you guys! The best birthday! Ever!”

Ayame’s excitement was infectious, and she had everyone smiling back at her. They’d taken an early train to Tokyo and now they were waiting in line to get into Mouseland, and they were quite the group all together. The three former members of the Azalea House, the four girls from Nanaka’s team, and the five residents of Mikazuki Villa, twelve people in total, and with quite a lot of energy between them.

It was a good thing that Yachiyo Nanami, the oldest one here, was so level-headed. “Now, while we’re here to have fun, we should all still remember to be careful. Some witches like to take up residence in places like this where they have a lot of targets to choose from, and none of us will be able to fall back on our doppels here, so far from Kamihama.”

“Though, by the same token, witches are much less common outside of Kamihama these days,” Meiyui mused aloud.

“That’s true, but they aren’t completely absent,” Yachiyo replied. “It’s best to play it safe. We don’t want to have any accidents today.”

“Ugh, don’t be such a stick in the mud,” Felicia complained, rolling her eyes.

Iroha placed her hands on the younger girl’s shoulders to placate her. “Now now, Yachiyo is saying that because she cares about you and doesn’t anything to happen to you, Felicia.” Hazuki nodded to herself in approval. She didn’t know a lot about Iroha Tamaki, save that the girl had only moved to Kamihama relatively recently, but she was leaving a good impression. Hazuki had thought she was just another one of the girls that Yachiyo had ‘adopted’, but if anything Iroha seemed more like a parent to the younger girls on her team.

“Well, whether there’s witches or not it’s still a good idea to use the buddy system,” Hazuki interjected heading off potential arguments. “It’s a crowded park, and we don’t want anyone getting lost! And hey, luckily enough, we’ve got an even number of people! How about everybody picks a buddy to partner up with, and make sure that whatever you do you don’t lose track of your buddy?”

“Oh!” Felicia spoke up immediately. “Then I want to partner with Kako!”

“What? No fair, no fair!” Ayame exclaimed. “I want to partner with Kako!” She latched herself onto one of Kako’s arms.

“I said it first!” Felicia argued, latching onto Kako’s other arm.

“But, but, but! It’s my birthday!” Ayame pouted. “Kako! Tell us, tell us, who do you want to go with?”

“Um…” Kako smiled nervously, caught between the two energetic girls. “That’s… Can’t we all go together?”

Konoha sighed and put her hand on Ayame’s head. “I’ll go with the three of you. We’ll all be ‘buddies’ together. That should work fine, shouldn’t it?”

“Well, I guess that’s alright…” “Yeah, yeah! Thanks Konoha!” “I’m glad it didn’t become a fight again…”

“Um, in that case…” Sana spoke up, quietly but with determination, and grabbed Iroha’s hand. “I want to be Iroha’s buddy!”

“Sure, I’d like that,” Iroha answered with a smile before turning to the rest of her team. “Yachiyo, Tsuruno, would you like to come with us too?”

Yachiyo smiled, a gentle expression that Hazuki hadn’t often seen on the veteran’s face. “Yes, that sounds nice.” Sana perked up at that, her face practically glowing, and reached her other hand out to take Yachiyo’s.

Tsuruno threw her arms around Yachiyo’s neck from behind and was met with a sound of exasperation. “Yeah, the more the merrier! Ooh, Master, let’s see who can spin the teacups the fastest!”

“Tsuruno, we can do that, but get off!”

“Well,” Akira said thoughtfully while the mightiest magical girl wrestled with the veteran, “if we’re partnering, want to partner up with me, Meiyui? If that’s okay with you.”

“Yes, that sounds good,” Meiyui replied cordially, bringing her hands together. “We’ll show all the others that we can enjoy Mouseland better than anyone else.”

“…Huh? It’s a competition?”

“And I guess that just leaves the two of us,” Hazuki said, rounding on Nanaka. “Looks like you’re stuck with me!”

Nanaka looked surprised for a moment, before her expression resolved into an appraising smile. “That was most well-played. Even though I was watching, I’m impressed. How did you pull it off?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hazuki lied with a smile. Sometimes, when you did things right, people couldn’t be sure you’d done anything at all.

* * *

“This is… a calmer ride than I expected,” Nanaka admitted. They were seated next to each other at the front of a log ‘raft’ that ‘floated’ leisurely along a river, though it was actually attached to a rail.

“Seems pretty tame for a name like Soak Peak, right?” Hazuki agreed. “But it’s got that big drop at the end. And until then, we get to relax.”

“True,” Nanaka mused. “Perhaps this ride is designed to put you into a state of ease so that the drop at the end has a stronger emotional impact?”

“That could be,” Hazuki replied with a shrug. “Are you anxious for it? You don’t have experience with thrill rides, do you? Feel free to cling to me if you’re scared.” She smiled mischievously.

“Compared to the thrill and fear of fighting witches, I don’t think a ride like this will compare,” Nanaka shot back with her own slight smile. “And in any case, it’s hard to really be afraid, since this is a carefully maintained theme park and there’s no possibility of actual danger. But I don’t mind if you cling to me, even if you don’t have a reason.”

Hazuki laughed. “We’ll see, then.”

Eventually they got to the promised drop at the end, and Hazuki clenched her fingers in excitement. As the raft tipped over the edge of the waterfall and started rapidly descending she felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. It wasn’t anything compared to the fear of fighting a witch, of course, but it was an entirely different sensation, the sudden sense of falling while strapped helplessly into a metal death contraption triggering automatic flight-or-fight instincts. It was scary on an instinctual level that she couldn’t control, and that was what made it exhilarating.

An arm curled tightly and protectively around her shoulder, and she caught sight of Nanaka’s face, jaw set in determination, looking ahead with intense concentration. She burned the sight into her memories.

They hit the bottom of the drop, water splashing up and soaking them just like in the ride’s name. Nanaka’s grip quickly slackened and her face gradually relaxed again. After a few moments she realized that Hazuki was staring at her. “Hm?”

“Well?” Hazuki asked with a playful tilt of her head.

“…It caught me by surprise,” Nanaka admitted after a few moments. “It was surprisingly effective. It might be a good way of training your nerves.”

“You looked like you were ready to transform right there and leap off of the ride with me in your arms,” Hazuki teased.

“…That’s an exaggeration,” Nanaka said, but she wasn’t able to meet Hazuki’s eyes.

Oh, this ride was a good choice. Hazuki was pretty sure that there were automatic pictures of the passengers during the plummet that you could get as souvenirs, and Hazuki was _definitely_ going to keep this one.

* * *

“Oh, it’s a hat shop!” Hazuki eagerly dragged Nanaka into the store that she had ‘happened’ to come across. “Hey, how does this look?”

“A pirate hat?” Nanaka looked over Hazuki appraisingly. “Yes, it suits you. You have the height to be an excellent pirate captain.”

“Thanks! Though really, you’d be an even better pirate captain than me.”

Nanaka looked surprised. “You think so? I didn’t think it would suit my character very well.”

Hazuki put her hand on her chin, imagining. “Well, a pirate captain is a lot like a mafia leader, or so I figure, so yeah, I imagine it would work perfectly. It’s too bad that they don’t have a full set of pirate regalia here, I’d love to see how that looks on you.”

Nanaka laughed. “A mafia leader? Is that how you see me?”

“Am I wrong?”

“I’ve never thought of myself that way.” Nanaka turned away to browse the rows of hats. “Above all else, I’m a flower arranger. I believe that each flower has it’s place. My responsibility is to arrange them just so, so that they will all flourish.” She picked up a hat with an oversized pair of goofy mouse ears and placed it on her head, turning to face Hazuki with a proud smile. “Well? This is cute, is it not?”

Hazuki smiled and held back a laugh. Nanaka Tokiwa, the strategist and leader that seemed to have half the city dancing in the palm of her hand. And she was excited about a big pair of mouse ears. “ _Very_ cute.”

* * *

“This one! We’ve gotta do this one next, we gotta!”

The twelve of them had reconvened, and Ayame was now insistently pushing her opinion on which ride they should all go on.

“Space Shootout, huh?” Akira said thoughtfully. “What kind of ride is that?”

“Oh, we were looking at this one earlier,” Iroha spoke up. “You ride in a cart that has a sort of, um, space blaster attached to it, and you shoot at targets and evil aliens. You get a score based on how well you do… I don’t think there’s any prizes or anything, though.”

“That’s why!” Ayame exclaimed. “That’s why! We gotta have a contest! And whoever gets the most points wins!”

“Ha, you’re on!” Felicia answered with a cheeky grin. “I’ll win for sure!”

“I’m actually not that great at these kinds of games, so I might sit this out,” Iroha said, attempting to bow out of the competition gracefully.

“Nuh-uh!” Felicia immediately spoke up. “It’s not a real contest if everyone doesn’t join in! And you can’t hold back, either!”

Akira scratched her head. “I don’t really know how I feel about going all-out against kids, though…”

“A lion uses all their strength even when hunting a rabbit,” Meiyui said solemnly. “I will show you the true strength of the Blue Seas family!”

“That’s right!” Tsuruno exclaimed. “Since I’m the Mightiest even at games, I’ll win without holding back!”

Hazuki could already see where this would go. Ayame, bless her soul, would certainly get crushed at this contest, there was no way she’d be able to win against some of the monstrously talented people here. This wasn’t exactly the most tactful group in the world, so there could well be some hurt feelings afterward. Naturally, this meant it was Hazuki’s responsibility to step in now. “Hey, how about we make this interesting? We’ll do this as teams, and whichever team has the highest total score among team members is the team that wins!”

“That’s a good idea,” Konoha said with a nod. “How shall we divide up teams?”

“We can draw lots,” Nanaka answered, surprising everyone by pulling out a handful of paper strips. Had she prepared those ahead of time? “There’s twelve of us, so we can do four teams of three. That should prove suitable, should it not?”

Felicia crossed her arms and grumbled. “If you handle it, you’ll definitely rig the teams.”

“Then Yachiyo can handle the distribution of lots,” Nanaka smoothly replied without batting an eye. “I trust that will be acceptable?”

“If it’s Yachiyo… Yeah, I guess that’s fine,” Felicia admitted grudgingly.

“Very well,” Yachiyo said without much enthusiasm. “Let’s get this over with.”

The lots were quickly distributed, and they had their teams.

Team One: Ayame, Felicia, Kako.

Team Two: Konoha, Hazuki, Nanaka.

Team Three: Iroha, Yachiyo, Sana.

Team Four: Tsuruno, Akira, Meiyui.

…The teams had _definitely_ been rigged, Hazuki would bet on it. Had Nanaka conspired with Yachiyo for this, or had Yachiyo done this of her own initiative? No, that was the wrong way of looking at it, Nanaka had come up with the idea so she was definitely behind the teams ending up like this, the only question was whether Yachiyo was aware she’d been used.

“Alright, we’re definitely going to win!” Felicia shouted excitedly.

“Yeah, yeah!” Ayame agreed with an enthusiastic nod. “Let’s do this!”

As they were getting onto the ride, Hazuki sent a telepathic message to Nanaka. _“So, what’s your plan here? Should I hold back, or…?”_

“ _Plan? I don’t know what you mean.”_ Nanaka’s smile gave the lie away. _“But shall we make a wager? The group hasn’t decided on the room arrangements for tonight yet. If you score higher than me, I’ll let you dictate room assignments.”_

…Wait. Was Nanaka suggesting what Hazuki thought she was suggesting? Hazuki fought to keep her emotions off her face. _“Deal.”_ She… might have to take this a _bit_ seriously after all.

* * *

“Okay, let’s add up everyone’s scores.” Konoha already had her phone out, ready to record everyone’s numbers.

“Hahahaha!” Ayame laughed heartily. “115,500! Beat that! Betcha can’t, betcha can’t!”

“Aha, I got 290,000!” Tsuruno shouted. “You’re a hundred years too early to challenge the Mightiest!”

“What?! No fair, no fair!”

“Tsuruno, be nice,” Iroha whispered loudly.

“Ha! I got 290,100!” Felicia boasted.

Tsuruno froze mid-victory dance, a lock of shock crashing over her face. “Wha?! That’s… We need to have a rematch! Best two out of three!”

“A rematch won’t be necessary,” Meiyui interrupted. “This is a team match, and we have the strongest team.” She raised a fist triumphantly. “I received 301,400 points!”

“That adds up to 591,400,” Konoha murmured to herself.

“I thought I did okay, but I guess it wasn’t very much,” Sana said quietly. “I only got 3,500 points.”

“That’s perfectly fine, Sana,” Yachiyo said comfortingly. “The most important thing is that you had fun. We don’t need to win. For what it’s worth, my score was 230,000.”

“No matter how Iroha scored, it won’t be possible to overcome our combined scores,” Meiyui declared triumphantly. “Team Four shall be victorious! Akira, reveal your score!”

Akira, who was looking away and red-faced, murmured something quietly. “400.”

“What was that.”

Akira blushed even harder. “400.”

Meiyui looked at her in disbelief. “…You mean 400,000, surely.”

“Just 400! I couldn’t figure out how to hit the targets! I don’t know how you’re all so crazy good at this!”

“Team Four’s total is 591,800,” Konoha announced.

“…Well, that’s fine,” Meiyui shrugged. “My score and Tsuruno’s are enough to carry the team.”

“Well…” Iroha looked a little bashful. “I actually got 362,100.”

Tsuruno looked blown away. “Ehh?! That’s an even higher score than Meiyui’s!”

“Well, I _am_ used to using a crossbow. I guess my accuracy is pretty good,” Iroha said, downplaying her achievement.

“Team Three’s total is 595,600,” Konoha announced. “For anyone not keeping track of the numbers, that’s higher than Team Four.”

Meiyui grunted and clutched her side as though she’d taken physical damage. “A most formidable foe indeed.”

“Well, I guess it’s my turn,” Hazuki spoke up. “I got 201,700. I did alright, I guess.” She locked eyes with Nanaka.

Nanaka smiled. “As for myself, I only scored 198,000 points,” she admitted, raising a hand in defeat. Hazuki pointedly did _not_ raise a cheer in victory. She did _not_ jump up and down, or punch the air, or react in any way other than smiling.

But she thought about it.

“And with my 451,300 points, that brings Team Two’s total to 851,000 points,” Konoha announced.

“…Hey, did she just drop a huge bombshell like it’s no big deal?” Akira asked hesitantly.

“Holy smokes!” Felicia exclaimed. “How did you get so many points?!”

“It wasn’t anything much,” Konoha said modestly, though she was smiling quite smugly.

Hazuki wanted to sigh and pinch her forehead. Of course Konoha, who was so good at everything but cooking, would go all out at a game like this. She glanced at Nanaka in worry. She had trusted Nanaka when the other girl had goaded her into not holding back, but with the scores like this, there was no way that Ayame’s team would win. Had Nanaka underestimated Konoha’s abilities? It would have been better if Hazuki had thrown the match and gotten a score like Akira’s…

But Nanaka was smiling.

“Well, I guess the match is over then,” Akira said with a sigh. “There’s no way to beat that total.”

“Don’t be so quick to judge,” Nanaka said. “We haven’t received Kako’s score yet.”

All eyes turned to look at the small bookworm girl.

Hazuki nominated herself as the one to take the fall by saying the obviously dumb thing that nonetheless needed to be said. “But there’s no way, right? I mean, for Team One to win, Kako would need to have scored…”

“More than 445,400 points,” Tsuruno finished, earning several odd looks.

“…That’s right,” Konoha said after a few moments, looking at her phone. “Did you… calculate that in your head?”

“Yeah, why?”

“No, it’s nothing.” Konoha shook her head. “Kako, what was your score?”

“Erm, well…” Kako looked to her friends first, checking Ayame’s and Felicia’s expectant faces, and then spared a glance at Nanaka, her team leader, before taking a deep breath and facing Konoha. “Actually, my score is… 500,000 points.”

Silence rolled over the group like a wave following Kako’s momentous announcement.

Nanaka’s proud chuckle was the first thing to break the silence. “That’s right! Not many people know this, but Kako is actually an arcade shooting-game enthusiast! She’s on the high score list of several local arcade machines! Among certain circles she’s known by another name: the girl who plays shooting games!”

Hazuki was mostly sure that Nanaka was the only one who called her that. It wasn’t even a name, it was a description.

“This was my first time playing Space Shootout, so I didn’t quite have it figured out,” Kako spoke up timidly. “I could probably do better if I played it again, now that I’ve got a better feel for where to get the most points…”

“Hey, we won! Great job, Kako!” “You’re amazing, Kako, amazing!” Her two best friends showered her with praise, sweeping her up in a hug from both sides.

Hazuki’s eyes slid back to Nanaka. It seemed that everything had gone according to Nanaka’s predictions after all. Though, Hazuki still had to wonder… _“Nanaka, did you hold back at all so that Ayame’s team would win?”_ she asked telepathically. It was suspicious how close Nanaka’s score was to Hazuki’s own, and Kako’s margin of victory wasn’t by _that_ much either. _“And so that_ I _would win?”_ Hazuki’s mind was positively abuzz with the possible implications of _that_.

Nanaka just smiled at her, angling her head so that the light glinted off of her glasses. _“Does that sound like something I would do?”_

Hazuki just stared at her, having no response to that. Losing on purpose wasn’t specifically something that felt like a ‘Nanaka’ kind of move, but… Doing absolutely anything to achieve her goals was _absolutely_ a Nanaka move.

* * *

“This was the best birthday ever!” Ayame shouted between the explosions of the fireworks. Konoha halfheartedly tried to tell her not to be so noisy in a public place, but no one could argue with the huge ear-to-ear smile on Ayame’s face.

While everyone else was focused on the fireworks, Hazuki leaned in close to Nanaka. “Thanks for making this happen,” she said quietly. “Ayame has had such a good time today. And I really enjoyed myself too.”

“I’m glad. I had a wonderful time as well,” Nanaka replied softly.

“I know it’s this big corporate thing, but honestly, at time like this, it really does feel like the most magical place on Earth,” Hazuki admitted.

“Of course it does,” Nanaka said matter-of-factly. She turned to look Hazuki in the eye. “After all, you’re here. There’s not much more that I could ask for.”

Hazuki laughed and blushed at once. It was sweet and corny and she couldn’t agree more. There was nothing else that she could think to ask for right now.

And then Nanaka went and cleared her throat to get the attention of the rest of the group. “So, Hazuki,” she said, raising her voice to be heard. “You were telling me earlier that you had a plan for room assignments tonight, were you not?”

Hazuki felt all eyes on her, and she carefully schooled her face. Ah, right. Nanaka _had_ promised earlier to let her decide, and now Hazuki was going to have to figure out how to present to the rest of the group. But that was fine. “Of course. I always have a plan.”

**Author's Note:**

> Did you know that Tsuruno's personal magic is good luck? Tsuruno's personal magic is good luck. As far as I know it's only come up once, when Yachiyo makes offhand mention of it in chapter 6. Anyway, that's how they won those Mouseland tickets. As for exactly what arrangements Nanaka made with Tsuruno to put that together, I'll leave that as an exercise for your imagination. I originally thought to have a scene with Nanaka explaining about Tsuruno's magic while making flower arrangement metaphors, but Nanaka stubbornly insisted on keeping it a secret from her girlfriend, and I can't argue with that.
> 
> There's no canon evidence (as far as I know) that Kako is a master of arcade shooting games. However, it is canon that she helps at her family's bookstore, works part-time at the flower shop, spent some time undercover as a hired bodyguard for fighting off mafia enforcers, is a ramen-eating champion, and is responsible for keeping Felicia and Ayame from burning down the city. AND she fights witches. I'm thoroughly convinced there isn't anything she can't do.
> 
> Yes, Mouseland is just Disneyland renamed. Specifically Tokyo Disneyland, though, since I've never been there, it's based primarily on my experiences at the Disneyland in California. I did spend a brief time checking for relative consistency, though. Soak Peak is Splash Mountain (apparently the Tokyo version is 2 seats wide, while the California version is only 1 seat wide). Space Shootout is Astro Blasters (I actually wanted to use Midway Mania, which is even more fun IMO, but it seems to be a California Adventure exclusive). I tried to keep the Astro Blasters score relatively reasonable, I think, but it's been a while since I've been on that ride, and no one is likely to notice anyway. Hopefully tossing out all those numbers didn't make it too hard for anyone to read.
> 
> Ayame doesn't have an official birthday. Almost none of the girls have official birthdays, in fact. So this can take place during whichever part of the year that you prefer, though I imagined it as sometime during the summer.
> 
> And that's all for now! If you made it this far, hopefully you enjoyed it. I just really wanted to write something about Nanaka and Hazuki being really sweet together while engaging in all sorts of harmless scheming and mindgames, and showing off some of Nanaka's cute side that we see with her discovering the juice bar in Hazuki's MGS. For some reason I decided that the best way to do that was Disneyland, and everything flowed from there.


End file.
